Linear actuators or motors create motion in a straight line and are used in industrial machinery and manufacturing. Many electro-mechanical linear actuators include a leadscrew and a lead nut. Together the leadscrew and the lead nut translate the turning motion of a rotor into linear motion.
One example of an electro-mechanical linear actuator is a traveling-nut linear actuator where a rotor rotates a leadscrew and a lead nut is restrained from spinning so the lead nut travels up and down the leadscrew using the principle operation of an inclined plane as provided by the threads of the spinning leadscrew. Another example of an electro-mechanical linear actuator is a traveling-screw linear actuator where a retrained leadscrew passes entirely through a motor and the motor, which contains a lead nut, “crawls” up and down the restrained leadscrew. In this example, the only spinning components are inside the motor and are not visible from the outside.